Bureaucracy 2014
SURNAME: KAILE
NAME: BOITSHWARO
LECTURER: MR SAULOS
QUESSION 2: Discuss characteristics of a bureaucratic school/ organization.
DUE DATE: 08/10/2014
According to Haralambos and Holborn (1995) “a bureaucracy is concerned with the business of administration with controlling, managing and coordinating a complex series of tasks” (p: 270). Therefore, the aim of this essay is to discuss the characteristics of a bureaucratic school/ organization and they are as follows: specialization, a hierarchy of offices, rules and regulations lastly rewards based on merit.
One of the characteristics of a bureaucratic school/organization is specialization. Specialization is concentrating on a specific task for example; bursar as one of the school officers regulates finances of the school. According to Weber as cited in Hoy and Miskel (1991) “division of labor and specialization means that the regular activities required for the purposes of the bureaucratically governed structure are distributed in a fixed way as official duties” (p: 104). This is to say, work in schools is divided into different task hence everyone have his/her specific task. Teachers are specializing by teaching a specific subject for example, Mathematics. Mathematics teacher specialize by teaching only Mathematics to all the grades in the school that is, form one, two and three. This is advantageous due to the fact that it makes one’s job easier and to be of high quality since he/she deals with a specific subject.
Furthermore, specialization goes hand in hand with what is called division of labor. Light, Keller and Calhoun (1989) state “in bureaucracies the work to be accomplished is broken down into clear-cut division of labor and people are trained to specialize in performing each task” (p: 219). This is division of labor which refers to dividing work into small and manageable tasks. Therefore since tasks in schools are too complex to be performed by a single
NAME: BOITSHWARO
LECTURER: MR SAULOS
QUESSION 2: Discuss characteristics of a bureaucratic school/ organization.
DUE DATE: 08/10/2014
According to Haralambos and Holborn (1995) “a bureaucracy is concerned with the business of administration with controlling, managing and coordinating a complex series of tasks” (p: 270). Therefore, the aim of this essay is to discuss the characteristics of a bureaucratic school/ organization and they are as follows: specialization, a hierarchy of offices, rules and regulations lastly rewards based on merit.
One of the characteristics of a bureaucratic school/organization is specialization. Specialization is concentrating on a specific task for example; bursar as one of the school officers regulates finances of the school. According to Weber as cited in Hoy and Miskel (1991) “division of labor and specialization means that the regular activities required for the purposes of the bureaucratically governed structure are distributed in a fixed way as official duties” (p: 104). This is to say, work in schools is divided into different task hence everyone have his/her specific task. Teachers are specializing by teaching a specific subject for example, Mathematics. Mathematics teacher specialize by teaching only Mathematics to all the grades in the school that is, form one, two and three. This is advantageous due to the fact that it makes one’s job easier and to be of high quality since he/she deals with a specific subject.
Furthermore, specialization goes hand in hand with what is called division of labor. Light, Keller and Calhoun (1989) state “in bureaucracies the work to be accomplished is broken down into clear-cut division of labor and people are trained to specialize in performing each task” (p: 219). This is division of labor which refers to dividing work into small and manageable tasks. Therefore since tasks in schools are too complex to be performed by a single
References: Barnard, A., Burgess, T. & Kirby, M. (2004). Sociology: As a Level and A Level. New York: Cambridge University Press. Farrant, J.S. (1980). Principles and Practice of Education. Harlow: Longman. Haralambos, M. & Holborn, M. (1995). Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. 4th Ed. London: Collins Educational. Hoy, W.K. & Miskel, C.G. (1991). Education Administration: Theory, Research and Practice. 4th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Light, D., Keller, S. & Calhoun, C. (1989). Sociology.5th Ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Stark, R. (1989). Sociology. 3rd Ed. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co. www.bustingbureaucracy.com/excerpts, date of retrieval 02/10/2014. www.cliffsnotes.com, date of retrieval 02/10/2014.